Rumours saying the relationship between Pierre Gasly and ‘some members of the Red Bull management’ were tense, were circulating last week on the net, and a passage of the French driver to Renault was said to be a possibility.
It is true that Pierre Gasly did talk to Renault’s team principal Cyril Abiteboul because he knows that he’s won’t be asked to move to Red Bull Racing in the near future. This situation frustrates him because he feels he deserves the second RBR seat, and he has not forgotten the way he was demoted to Toro Rosso in the middle of last season.
He also knows that Esteban Ocon has a valid two years contract (2020-2021) with Renault and Cyril Abiteboul told him, he very much intends to honour this contract. It is known that Ocon’s performances are below these of his teammate Ricciardo, but the difference in performance in not such that his seat would be in danger. As Cyril Abiteboul said recently: “Not easy to drive at Ricciardo’s level.” On top of that, at Renault, everybody is convinced that Ocon is progressing, so no reason to change (for the time being).
But, if this progress was to be disappointing compared to his new teammate Fernando Alonso in 2021, then obviously, Pierre Gasly a young French driver, recent winner of a Grand Prix, would be an excellent alternative for Renault… soon to be named Alpine.
In the meantime, Helmut Marko who has declared ‘counting on Gasly’ to be a leader at AlphaTauri, won’t let him move to Renault and Pierre on the other hand, is very well aware that without Red Bull he wouldn’t even be in Formula One, and wants to be grateful.
Let’s wait and see, but most probably we won’t see Pierre Gasly moving to Renault (Alpine) in 2021.
